Landon Jones, Seaforth’s varsity baseball head coach, is stepping down from his position, Seaforth athletic director Jared Worley confirmed.
As of July 10, Seaforth has started its search for a new head coach.
Jones was named Seaforth’s first varsity baseball head coach prior to the school opening in 2021. In three seasons, Jones coached the Hawks to a 39-29 overall record, one state playoff appearance and two playoff wins.
Seaforth’s best season under Jones was this past spring in which the Hawks finished with a 22-6 overall record, finished 12-2 in conference play, claimed the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference regular season and tournament titles and earned their first playoff berth. The team had an exceptional April as Seaforth won 12 out of its 14 games that month, and with such a strong finish to the season it was able to host its first two playoff games.
With a young team entering their first playoff game, the Hawks beat Wallace-Rose Hill, 3-2, in the first round of the 2A state tournament and followed that with a 4-1 win over West Craven in the second round. Seaforth’s 2024 season came to an end in a 6-1 road loss to Whiteville in the third round.
“I’ve just preached to them the motto, ‘If you can be, that means you’re not yet,’” Jones said after Seaforth clinched the conference regular season title in April. “They’ve bought in, and we’re finally getting a taste of what it looks like for us to reach our goals.”
Although the success under Jones was short-lived, Seaforth came a long way under Jones’ leadership from year one to year three.
In its first season, Seaforth went 3-13 overall and 0-9 in conference play. By year two, the Hawks improved to 14-10 overall, climbed to 6-6 against conference opponents and even rallied their way to the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference tournament championship game in which they lost to North Moore.
Under Jones, the Hawks saw 11 all-conference selections including Griff Burk, Dane O’Neill (twice), Colin Dorney (twice), Jaedyn Rader, Cade Elmore (twice), Anders Johansson (twice) and Anthony Landano.
Jones’ departure is one of multiple recent coaching and administration changes in Seaforth athletics.
Former varsity basketball head coach Leo Brunelli stepped down in March after just one season and was replaced with John Berry in May. In June, former athletic director Jason Amy officially stepped down in June, and Worley immediately became the school’s second athletic director.